How Long Are You Going To Stay With Me?
by Bria
Summary: Rose Tyler was happier than she'd ever been in her life, but if the Doctor didn't propose tonight, she was going to do so herself.


Disclaimer: Doctor Who isn't mine. If it was things would be quite different. The BBC owns all and I bow before them.

Written for timepetalsprompts on tumblr and their weekly prompt (provided by tenroseforeverandever), "Do you think I could try again?"

* * *

Rose Tyler put down the hair curler with a sigh. Today was the six month anniversary of being left in Pete's World with the Doctor. She was happier than she'd ever been in her life, but if he didn't propose tonight, she was going to do so herself. They were already as committed to each other as two people could be and a piece of paper wouldn't change that, but she wanted more.

Years ago, when she met him and they had started travelling together, she'd accepted that some things she had once dreamed of for her life would probably never come to pass. That had been okay though, because the Doctor had been worth it and she wanted to be with him more than she wanted to fulfill childhood fantasies. But now that they could have those things she wanted them, desperately. She wanted to be his wife, and for him to know that her family was now his, in every sense of the world.

But how to find the words? She'd been working on what she was going to say for the past week. Now looking at the pile of drafts sitting next to her though, she wasn't happy with any of it. How did people do it? Make themselves vulnerable, open to the possibility of rejection and the potential end of a relationship if the other person didn't feel the same way. At least she didn't have to worry about that part – their promises were made long ago (as well as more recently), but she wanted to put a ring on it, as the saying went.

She picked up one of the drafts with a sigh and began to read.

"Doctor, the last six months have been the most amazing of my life. A year ago neither of us would've imagined ourselves here, yet we are and we're together. It hasn't always been the easiest, for either of us. We've had our up and our downs, but through all of it we've had each other and we're stronger than ever. I know how much you gave up to be here with me, how hard losing the TARDIS and becoming part human was on you, and I want you know those sacrifices mean everything to me. I love you for who you are completely; who you were before and who you've become. You've always been the Doctor and now you're my Doctor. You are the most amazing man I have ever known and I would love the honor of becoming your wife. Will you marry me?"

NO. Ugh, that was terrible. She picked up the next one.

"Doctor, I know you how much you hated having to take on a human name when you got your license, health card, and passport. I know you dislike it anytime somebody calls you Dr. Noble like Ryan in R&D does. But I had an idea that maybe you wouldn't mind if one John Noble married one Rose Tyler." She flashed a cheeky grin in the mirror but it felt flat.

"Is that really what you think?"

Rose whirled around with a gasp and saw the Doctor leaning against the doorframe to their bedroom.

"How long have you been there?"

"Long enough." The Doctor joined her in front of the vanity and hugged her. "Pete said you went home with a headache and you never get those. And your text to me was so vague, I was worried. We always head home together."

"Sorry," Rose sighed. "My 'headache' was just trying to rehearse for tonight. You heard both of them?"

"I did," he confirmed. "Do you really think I find being here so tough?"

Rose shrugged. "Not over all, but you did hate choosing a legal name. We've had arguments but that was our only fight."

The Doctor let out a long breath. "I'm over it. That was in our first weeks here and I might have been feeling a bit sorry for myself. You're right, this isn't where I would've seen myself a year ago, but I couldn't be happier. Losing the TARDIS was hard but we've got our own growing – and even if we didn't, it wouldn't matter. I knew who you were and that I wanted to be with you when I had no sense of who I even was. You alone are my universe, Rose. Of course I want to be your husband."

He paused and reached into the pocket of his blue pinstriped trousers. "I had planned on asking you on Valentine's Day."

 _Ah._ She felt a bit silly. The Doctor had thrown himself wholeheartedly into celebrating every holiday on the calendar in the last six months (holidays are brilliant Rose!), so him planning on the most romantic evening of the year really should have occurred to her. But he'd seemed so oblivious to every hint about nuptials her mum had thrown at him she really figured he was just being a bloke. _Bless._

She watched as he took out a dark blue box but he didn't open it. Instead he seemed to be waiting for her.

Rose took a deep breath and looked down at the dressing gown she was still wearing. This was not how she envisioned this moment happening but it was very much them. She walked over to her bureau and reached into the back it, pulling out a velvet box of her own.

Returning to the Doctor, she started to get down on her knee but he shook his head. _Oh. They were doing this together._ Taking his empty hand in hers, she looked him in the eye. "Do you think I could try again?"

He nodded at her.

 _Okay, this was it. Just keep it straight, to the point. "_ How long are you going to stay with me?"

Surprise, and a smile light up his face. "Forever."

"Together?" Rose opened up the ring box she held and revealed the Celtic **Lover's Knot** ring she had picked out for him.

"As husband and wife," the Doctor replied as opened the blue box. Inside was gorgeous white stone that burst with yellow beams as the sunlight streaming into their bedroom hit it. It was in a beautiful pinkish band and Rose was sure she hadn't seen a prettier ring in all her life.

"It's a Gallifreyan sunstone," he told her as he slipped on her left hand. "For my pink and yellow Rose."

She felt tears well in her eyes and as she slipped the Celtic Knot band on his hand, she saw one trickle down his face. "This is a Lover's Knot. No beginning and no end."

"Forever entwined?"

"Yeah, just like the two of us."

Then Rose flung her arms around her fiancé and they sealed their engagement with a kiss.


End file.
